The $40 Hidden Inside a 12V Battery

Hands up who hates buying batteries. (I had both hands up in the air by the way, briefly, but had to put them down to continue writing this article.) Anyway, batteries are the bane of my life. It seems almost every toy we have for our children or gadget for ourselves require batteries. And they need them in all shapes and sizes. The worst offenders are those button-cell batteries. Small and costly...until I saw the coolest video. (See also: 5 Quick Remote Control Hacks to Save You Time and Money)

Kipkay over at Metacafe has done it again, with a life hack and battery hack that will save you roughly $40 on those 1.5V button cell batteries. All you need is a 2-pack of 12V A23 batteries, which retail at less than $2 a pack. I found my set on Amazon for $1.66.

$40 From a 12V Battery

As the video shows, you simply split them open to reveal EIGHT 1.5V button-cell batteries, each one worth around $5. And as these 12V batteries come in pairs that gives you a grand total of 16 new batteries worth around $80. Not bad for an initial investment of $1.66. Kipkay also goes on to split a 9V battery for use in a battery emergency. You could say these hacks are literally "power to the people." (Sorry, couldn't resist).

Okay, this is really cool (and I'll remember it next time I need some of those battery types). However, you really need to compare prices a little more consistently! You can get 394's for $0.99 on Amazon too. At 16 per pack, that's still a ~10x savings though if you need that many!

first of all IDIOT, car batteries are Wet Cell. all the batteries we use in our electronics are dry cell.

and cracking open a car battery could KILL you! There's far more Amps in a car battery than in these things.

Guest #11

You must be a moron! Go ahead and try this, we need to rid the world of morons....in about 2 minutes or less after you short the battery with the metal rod, it will explode. But go ahead.

Guest #12

I'm sure this comment was meant to be funny and tongue-in-cheek.

DO NOT ACTUALLY TRY THIS! The battery may explode or cause a fire, melt, or cause serious burns.

Guest #13

Um, someone please delete that comment before someone hurts themselves. I know for a fact that the batt will explode if you short it out. The heat generated by the rapid discharge of the batt will weld the piece of metal to it pertinently which puts it in an unending loop of short out batt heat up bar, short out batt heat up bar and will eventually overheat the batt and cause it to explode!

Guest #14

:-P

cam #15

I'm sure you were trying to be funny, but the reality is if you put a metal bar across two automobile posts you could get killed. Come on dude, you can be funny but honestly, getting someone to kill themselves is pretty awful.

Guest #16

Only if you want to ruin the car battery itself. lol

Putting a metal bar across the battery terminals will heat the bar red-hot and if you do it for 10 mins it will not only drain your battery, but probably melt it as well.

and LOL at the claw hammer. Why would anyone do that. You're not only going to have a mess, but a mess of chemicals that are corrosive all over your driveway.

I hope no one took that comment seriously, or they're in for a real disappointment and a real headache.

Guest #17

i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one

Guest #18

i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one

Although this is an old post, someone else may stumble across this like I did, so I wanted to correct this point. Hearing aid batteries are a totally different zinc air formulation. The air powered by the interaction of air with zinc when the tab is removed from the battery. Although they look similar, they are a totally different chemistry than a silver oxide battery and can not be substituted.

Guest #23

hey man thanks fer clearin that up :D

Guest #24

Where would I find the vidio for this. I dont understand how this would work.
thanks

When you disassemble a 12 battery you get eight 1.5 volt alkaline button cells with a capacity of 0.028 Amp-hr. each.
I know this because I 've disassembled more than 60,000 of them yielding a half million button cells.
Believe me, It has saved me some serious money!

You know - I think next when I need button batteries that I shall dismember some A23s. Also, as a point totally unrelated to batteries, This video was on the end of video 'suggestions list'. Very nice it is too, whilst being completely scientific of course ;-)

But the video was really quick. It might have been more helpful to show how to match up batteries with products.
A Radioshack 394 battery is not the most common and while it's a neat trick you would have to be a real expert to know which battery will work with what.

Having a single larger cell is not more cost effective. Especially since the "standard" battery dimensions were developed in exactly this way. All batteries are made up of "cells". IT just so happens that some of those cells are finished products in and of themselves. It's very costly to design a new product, let alone gear up to manufacture it. A company can save a lot of money whenever they combine existing, readily available, components to produce a product- whether those components are something they produce, or something they buy from someone else. They don't have to build a substantial new manufacturing line, and they only have to engineer the "wrapper", so to speak. Also, there are specific performance benefits that can be achieved by putting existing battery cells together in different ways. You might be trying to achieve longer runtime, or higher initial current, etc., etc., etc.

So, don't be too quick to disbelieve, all of you who don't work in product design or manufacturing...

Energizer batteries are made in the US or Japan, except for A23, ehich clearly says "Made in China for Eveready." The little cells inside are chinese made generics / oem, with nowhere near the lasting capacity of regular Energizer made button cells. You get what you pay for :) .

I've never tried the 12V battery one, but I know for a fact that SOME 9V batteries can be opened up to yield six 1.5V cells, that are roughly the same size as AAA's. Other 9V batteries have a different size/shape of cell in them.

Also, it should be noted that the 1.5V cells that you get out of a 9V battery don't have the little tit on the end, and therefore might not be able to make contact with whatever device you intend to use it in.

had a 9v, needed AAAs, tried it, it works.
if you do like they say and bend the little metal piece over, they fit just fine.
i haven't tried the 12v yet, but i promise you the 9v hack works.
it's amazing! makes me so happy!
i don't know how long they last but whatever, they're cheap.

Well made Lithium (properly refined) last much longer than Silver Oxide. Good Lithium cells last about 8x longer than Alkaline

Very few button batteries (by type/size) are made with lithium. That WILL be an improvement, and it will come, RSN.

Alkaline/Silver/Lithium has only a little bit to do with the price. You are paying for the convenience of having a small device/battery. ALL button cell batteries cost much less than a single AA Alkaline battery to produce, and yet you are charged much more per unit, and especially per unit of power than AA Alkaline OR AA Lithium.

Lithium AA and, if you can find them, AAA, are fantastic.

Lithium has 8x the power (Ah), and 8x the shelf life.

BTW - the cell voltages of both Silver Oxide and Lithium cells are a bit higher than Alkaline, about 0.05 to 0.10 volts - measurable, but not harmful to the electronics.

Not sure what I laughed at more the Videos or peoples comments waiting to find a bunch of batteries to hack apart. If you do this you will 1. You will discover Battery acid and 2. We will discover you on the darwin awards.

1. Chances of discovering "battery acid" is pretty slim since most batteries that size are alkaline nowadays. In the production of a battery, or more correctly a "cell", you are usually only able to attain a maximum of 3.7V (lithium ion or lithium polymer). Anything above that, including 12V A23 batteries are true "batteries" consisting of multiple cells. I have never done this, but it is perfectly believable. 2. Maybe it is people who think they know everything about everything that we will discover on the Darwin Awards.

This was excellent. I remember my dad using Brasso to remove scratches from his plastic eyeglass lenses so I figured it had a good chance of working. But this worked great for me. On the two discs I tried it on, it returned them to their former glory. Very happy.

There is actually a new method of rebuilding rechargeable batteries without solder or heat. The connections are factory installed mechanical weldments that accept universal conducters. For more info go to www.battrx.com

the a23's are about $6 for 2 where im from... and i never use small button cells. no saving for me.

redman #98

Poor and misleading.

1. 394 batteries can be purchased as Silver Oxide or Alkaline. The Silver Oxide version will last about 40% longer. The ones you get out of an A23 will be alkaline.

2. The pricing claims in this article are a crock. They claim that the 394 will cost $5 and that the A23 pack only costs $2, but they are comparing on-line A23 prices to in-store 394 prices! If you buy your 394's online (the way they bought the A23), you can get them for about $1 each. So a $1.66 A23 online will provide you with 8 $1 batteries. You get $8 from one A23, not "40" dollars. When you account for the 40% shorter battery life, you get $5 worth of 394'a for a $1.66 A23. That's about a 3 to 1 savings.

3. But wait, now you have to cut open a case, and you have to change your batteries 3 times as often
I don't know about you, but that's just not worth the savings.